Remember Me
by Diana Alexander
Summary: In January 1989, a man and a woman meet, exchange stories, and a ring.


DISCLAIMER: The characters in this piece of fiction that are  
recognizable from Chris Carter's insane piece of work known as  
the X-Files belong to him, his company Ten-Thirteen Productions  
and Fox Broadcasting. Anything else, characters, situations or  
otherwise, belong to this very insane author.  
RATING: PG13  
CLASSIFICATION: S  
KEYWORDS: Pre-XF, Mulder/Scully UST  
SPOILERS: Travellers, if only for that damned ring...  
FEEDBACK: always welcome at dmulder@flashmail.com  
ARCHIVE: Anywhere's fine... Gossamer, Xemplary, Ephemeral,  
yeah... whatever... *grin*  
SUMMARY: In January 1989, a man and a woman meet, exchange  
stories, and a ring.  
  
**********************  
Remember Me  
(Part 1 of 1)  
By: Diana Alexander  
dmulder@flashmail.com  
**********************  
  
The conference center was crammed full of people trading stories  
about psychic experiences, results of tarot readings, fortune  
telling, and the sound of people bargaining over the objects  
that form the center of the New Age phenomena. Melissa Scully  
had wandered over to the booth selling tarot cards, leaving her  
sister Dana standing confused in the middle of it all.  
  
Dana sighed and muttered to herself, "I don't know why I agreed  
to come to this New Age conference with Melissa. She knows that  
I don't agree with her fascination with crystals and the like,  
but she claimed that it was important that I go with her to pick  
up another deck of tarot cards. She said something about it  
being written in the stars."  
  
With a sigh, she looked around at the room, which happened to be  
done in a astrological pattern. There were even fake stars  
pasted on the ceiling. Dana snorted, running her hands through  
her shoulder-length red hair. "I could be studying now. I have  
a physics test on Monday, and I really don't feel like flunking  
it..."  
  
Suddenly, she felt a sudden urge to look from where she was  
studying the ridiculous ceiling patterning, and she didn't fight  
it much. That was when Dana found her eyes meeting a pair of  
hazel eyes and locking. She couldn't look away... the man was  
tall, good-looking in an unusual sort of way, and most  
importantly of all, he looked so lost.  
  
It was that expression that drew her across the room before she  
even realized she was moving. He smiled down at her uneasily,  
"Hello."  
  
"Hello, yourself. You seem to be out of place here."  
  
"Oh, is it that obvious?" the man laughed self-consciously.  
  
"Not unless you're talking to someone whose in the same  
situation. It's kind of loud in here," Dana gestured to the  
yelling and screaming. "Wanna slip to that cafe outside the  
conference center and talk for a while, or are you waiting for  
someone?"  
  
Dana couldn't understand why she felt so instantly comfortable  
with this guy, but didn't question it... yet. No doubt she'd  
question herself to death later, but right now, it really didn't  
seem all that important.  
  
The man smiled at her, "Sure, I don't see why not. What's the  
point in staying in here after all?"  
  
"Precisely," Dana grinned and turned to walk out the exit when  
she felt a sudden pressure at the small of her back, and she  
turned to face him again with an eyebrow arched into the thick  
mass of her hair.  
  
"Hey, go with it..."  
  
Dana just shook her head, laughed, and made her way out of the  
conference center, reminding herself not to stay away long  
enough for Melissa to wonder what the hell happened to her, and  
possibly see her with this guy.  
  
**********************  
  
Fox Mulder sat back in the chair and sipped at the glass of iced  
tea the waitress had just delivered, and listened to his  
companion talk.  
  
"I don't know why I'm here, anyway. My sister dragged me out   
here with her. She said I needed a break from studying or   
something."  
  
"You're a student?"  
  
"A graduate student," she amended.  
  
"Oh? What's your field?"  
  
"Med right now, but I plan to go into forensic science."  
  
"Oh, so you like cutting up people, then?" Mulder made a gesture  
with his knife, and she laughed.  
  
"Did I say that?" the woman across the table from him gave him  
such an innocent look that he couldn't help but laugh. Nobody  
in their right mind would believe that she was innocent.  
  
"You didn't have to."  
  
"So, what about you?" she propped her elbow on the table and her  
chin on her hand. "What brings you to this place today?"  
  
"I was lonely," he found himself admitting. There was some  
safety in the anonymity, and so he found himself telling her   
everything. "I didn't know what else to do, so I just started   
driving. I found myself here."  
  
"What else happened?" the woman asked as though she knew that   
he was about to tell her something, which he was. Mulder had   
to wonder about that; if she did know what he was going to say,   
then she wouldn't be as out of place at that conference as she   
seemed to think.  
  
"Well..." his voice trailed off, and her eyes pinned him with   
dual blue laser beams, and he just sat there for a moment before   
continuing, shakily, "There was a woman I was involved with in   
college... she hurt me badly, and let's just say that I've been   
wary of being around women ever since. I'm surprised I've opened   
up to you."  
  
She smiled at him understandingly before reaching inside her   
purse, pulling out a black velvet case, and sliding it across   
the table to him. With a confused look, he picked it up and   
opened it. On a bed of velvet sat a man's wedding ring, and he   
looked at her with an amused expression, "Isn't this sort of   
rushed? I mean, we don't even know each others names."  
  
"What? You don't believe in love at first sight?" the woman   
asked him in a teasing voice as he slid on the ring to see if it   
fit. Surprisingly, it was a perfect fit. He had noticed an   
inscription on the inside that he planned to explore once out of   
the woman's presence.  
  
"What if I did?" he grinned, and she returned it.  
  
"I just thought that the ring would help keep those unwanted   
women away," she responded with a smile.  
  
"Tell me, enigmatic woman, why do you keep a man's wedding band   
at the bottom of your purse? Hoping to snag some poor helpless   
male who is unable to resist you?"  
  
"Actually, it was a ring I got for my past boyfriend," she said   
with an embarrassed flush to her cheeks. "I really thought I was   
going to marry him, until he left me for my best friend. I kept   
this ring kinda tucked away in the bottom of my purse for some   
reason."  
  
"Oh, so this is so you don't have to be reminded of Mr. Wrong??"  
he teased lightly.  
  
"No, no, I just thought you could use it. You do look awfully  
lost, you know."  
  
"And you are awfully blunt."  
  
"If I was awfully blunt, then I would have told you this before  
I even said hello."  
  
They laughed, and he shook his head, one lock of dark brown hair  
falling into his eyes again, "You do have a point. I assume you  
know someone who is that blunt?"  
  
"Yeah, a friend of mine..." her lips curved up into a smirk.   
"She's like a weather phenomenon. She blows in, tears your life  
to shreds and blows out again."  
  
"Sounds like people I've known in the past," Mulder smiled, and   
the woman laughed.  
  
"Oh, I doubt it. She's unlike anyone you will ever meet."  
  
"That unique?"  
  
"Oh, she's definitely one of a kind," she commented, draining   
the glass of iced tea she had been drinking, then she glanced at   
her watch. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry, but I need to be getting   
back. My sister worries."  
  
"That's all right. It's been a joy talking to you," Mulder   
smiled as he watched her rise, and shake her hair out of her   
face.  
  
"Same here." She extended a delicate hand to him and he shook   
it, then without thinking about it, he raised it to his lips and   
placed a tender kiss on the backside of her hand. When he   
pulled away, both of them had a surprised expression on their   
faces, and something akin to regret.  
  
While he watched her walk away, Fox Mulder had the unshakable   
feeling that they would meet again someday. That thought ran   
through his mind as he slid on his glasses to see the   
inscription on the ring the mysterious woman had given him.  
  
"Remember Me..." --DKS  
  
He smiled, "Oh, I will... I most certainly will."  
  
With that, he rose and headed for the exit to the building to   
see the sun shining in his face for the first time in a long   
time.  
  
**********************  
  
-End-  
  
  



End file.
